British Imperial power in the Indian Sub
Continent lasted from 1858-1947. During this time the
Empire consisted of what is now India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh and the disputed territory of Kashmir.

At
the beginning of the 18th century most of the Mongul
power that had been in Italy had disintergrated. Many of
the European super powers started to come into India to
trade, it was ultimately the British who ended on top and
in charge on India.

This was confirmed primarily by the defeat of the
Bengali army at Plassey in 1757.

India officially became part of the British Empire on
August 2, 1958 when the Parliament of England passed the
Government of India Act. Before this happened the East
India Company had primary control over the colony.
The East India Company had helped to develop many of the
British interests and political power in the Indian sub-continent.
On November 1, 1858 the announcement was officially
proclaimed in India

India was controlled by British Viceroys, but there
would still be Indian princes who would rule over the
seperate states of India In the 40 years from 1858-1909
Britian worked on creating a bureaucracy in India, one
that would be the largest in all of the Imperial world.
In 1861 The Indian Council Act was passed in which a
miniature cabinet was set up.

Under the British Empire India flourished as a center
of textiles, which soon became India's number one export.
The textile industry in part flourished because of the
extensive railroad network the British government built.
In total there ended up to be over 35,000 miles of
railroad in India by the first World War. The railroads
provided links to villages and other places that had
never been linked before, because of this agriculture and
many other industries grew rapidly.

In 1885 the first assembly of the Indian National
Congress was held in India. Their was also a smaller
Muslim congress which eventually turned into the Muslim
League in 1906, this would ultimately lead to the
creation of Pakistan. The first assembly was attended by
at total of 73 representatives from all of the Indian
provinces. Most were Hindu, only 2 were Muslim and there
was even a smaller number of those who were of the Parsi
or Jaina.

In 1905 Bengal was added to the Indian Empire. Because
it was too big to be considered one province it was
divided into two separate provinces primarily based on
religion. Hindus were part of western Bengal's Bhadlarok
region (respectable people) while the Muslim majority was
created with its capital in Dacca. The British government
of India clearly favored the Bhadlarok who were
intellectuals over the Muslims. Because of this division,
the Muslim groups began to have stong feelings of
nationalism and unity.

The Indian Councils Act of 1909 under John Morley
provided that the Indian councils were more of an
elective principle. This simply eliminated any majorities
in the legislatures.

When World War I came in 1914 India contributed many
of its men to the war effort in hopes of being repayed
for their help by some kind of Independence within the
next couple of years after the war. By the end of the war
nearly 1,000,000 troops were involved in the conflict in
Europe.

In 1919, Indian troops were ordered to fire upon
people holding a public demonstaration which at the time
had been forbidden to Indian citizens. This event
inspired Gandhi to begin his campaign for indepence
through silent protests.

Gandhi was a significantly powerful man in India,
known for his silent protests, he alone was one of the
major factors that led to the Indian independence. This
was achieved through boycotts, faith and silent protests.
Gandhi did not agree in putting both religion and
politics together.

During the last years of British rule in India there
was a lot of conflict between Hindus and Muslim. Though a
seperate electorate for Muslims had been set up in 1909
many Muslims were still feeling under represented in the
Indian parliament. A number of reform acts in 1919, 1932
and 1935 had attempted to change many factors but not
alot changed in the end. The reform on 1935 gave India a
good amount of self-governance.

The movement for independence had many problems though
as there were conflicts between the Muslim league and the
Hindu dominated congress. Because of escalating violence
between the two parties Lord Louis Mountbatten was sent
to India in 1947 to decide on the partition of India.
Hindu India would be governed by Mountbatten with Nehru
as a prime minister. Pakistan was formed with the leader
of the Muslim League Muhammed Ali Jinnah as the leader.

The partition caused much fleeing and mass migrations
by the Muslims and Hindus to be in their respective
countries.

Freedom of worship

The British followed a policy of not intervening in
India's religion. This is said to have brought about many
religious tensions between Hindus and Muslims.

In 1891 the Age of Consent Act was proclaimed which
raised the statutary rape age for many young Indian
brides from 10 years old to 12.

Once a congress was set up in India, many Muslims
began to complain about being under represented in the
Indian parliament. There were many fights over the
accused slaughter of many cows and pigs by both groups.
Cows are sacred for Hindus while pigs are sacred to
Muslims. This only caused more religious tension between
the two factions.

Because Muslims were a minority many Muslims started
to think about having an independent nation for Muslims
to live in.

On December 22, 1939 a Muslim "Day of Deliverance"
was declared in which Muslims were exempt from much of
the tyranny that was invoked on them by different members
of congress. The Muslim League was quickly set up, and in
March of 1940 in Lahore the ancient capital of Punjab
they met for the first time and declared the Lahore
Resolution (Pakistan Resolution), which set up the steps
for an independent state to be set up in the Northern
parts of India which would be Muslim in majority.

The British People in the Continent.

The British who lived in India were the elites of the
country. They had the best of the world with their own
private clubs and nice houses.

For the most part the British did not understand the
Indian system of ways because of the lack of contact with
the average Indian people.

The Results of the British In India

Western education and science as well as technology
were introduced, English became a common language over
the country's many languages and railroads were set up.

Indian nationalism started when the European powers
started to invade and exert their influence over India.

Indians had just started to learn to live
together and were trying to put their country
together, because this system had not yet been
completed many Indian rulers were much more
willing to trust the British. This lead to a lot
of British dominance

The British were far superior than many of their
European counterparts and had control of the
Indian ocean which allowed them to control the
trade to and from India by sea.

Britain because of its hegemon had much more
wealth to put into the country than other
countries did. This created a fairly good
administrative system in the country.